armidale

I assume from the swimsuits that this is sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Certainly a long time before I visited this pool in the early 1970s

awesome

nla.gov.au/nla.obj-451087871/view?sectionId=nla.obj-47974... - Pix, 8th January, 1944...'Poppyfield to Battlefield: Australia Makes Vital War Drug'...this pic appears on the the second page of the article, bottom rhs...

Pix's caption: 'Farmers Betty Tout and Dulcie Edwards walking through poppies growing 12 to the square foot. Miss Edwards is secretary of the WASPS. She ploughed poppy field, has now completed 800 acres.'

nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1240639991/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1316... - the ABC Weekly, 11th December, 1943...'Australian girls grow opium poppies'...more on the cultivation of the crop here...

That's a really lovely photo, and I see Betty is in bare feet, although I think Dulcie is in proper work boots.

The owner of the property, Donald Munro Shand (1904-1976) of Armidale, has an entry in the ADB. Shand farmed 'Woodville', a 4000-acre (1619 ha) property at Puddledock, near Armidale. Apparently he set up Women's Agricultural Security Production Services groups, using female students from Teachers' College, Armidale.
Believing that Australia could not reach its potential without regional development, Shand became founding chairman of East-West Airlines Ltd in 1947. - adb.anu.edu.au/biography/shand-donald-munro-11662

So it's possible that Dulcie and Betty went on the become school teachers after the War.

covid convict Thanks for those links, very interesting and useful!

Presumably Armidale in the New England area of NSW …

Looking south down Dangar Street over the Barney Street intersection towards the Armidale Teachers College , which was built 1929-1931. I think that the substantial 2 storey building on the left is “Smith House” which was for many years used as a residence for students of the College. The house on the right was presumably demolished as there is a motel on that site now. The photo was obviously taken from some height and the existent Catholic Church’s tower on the diagonally opposite corner to Smith House would seem to fit the bill. So earliest date is c.1930/31. It's a start. No cars in the picture so I can't do any better than this! Jenny (the old car enthusiast)

Hi Jenny, this information will certainly come in handy, thank you! It's better than a start, you have identified the streets.

Yes, this is taken from the spire of the Catholic Cathedral looking south down Danger St.. The 2 story building on the left is Smith House which was the residence for female students of The Armidale Teacher's College. The College building can be seen as a large and imposing on the skyline at the left of Danger St.. Again, yes that beautiful old house on the corner of Dangar and Barney Streets was demolished and a rather ugly motel built in its place in the 1960's. The building above the old house facing Dangar St., (cnr Dangar and Brown Streets) also with a striped bull-nose verandah was yet another large and beautiful old residence that was also demolished in the 1960's. And they called this "progress" at the time!